In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by their friend Chad to discuss their love of Tabletop Role-Playing Games. The trio explore the history of TRPGS, and talks about their own experiences and growing up playing these games. Along the way, they discuss the appeal of Gamma World, point based vs. random character creation, and their love of Superhero Gaming. All this, and the future of TRPGs are waiting for you in the 20th episode of the Department of Nerdly Affairs.

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2 Responses to DNA Podcast 020 – Tabletop RPG Memories

I totally needed to crash your party on this episode. You guys missed all my favourites.
You barely mentioned Traveller. DIDN’T MENTION Space 1889 or Paranoia, Or Toon, or CAR WARS, or Boot Hill, or Battletech.

And your guest totally lost his Canadian card at the very beginning Rob, by saying “I’ve got my big bottle of soda”. SODA? What self respecting Canadian calls pop soda?

Loved the episode regardless. The different phases made sense for me. I’m still looking for the game manual for the D6 System. That was brilliantly put together.

I always figured there were two kinds of gamers. Those who wanted to war game, and those who wanted to actually roleplay through stories.
I think I wouldn’t have wanted to play the weakened characters you guys like though. After all, the point of playing these fantastic games is with fantastic heroes. No one wants the 18 all across the board character (well, lots of people did, but you know what I mean), still having someone effectively useless in fight is pretty much no fun either.
There has to be a balance. I’ve been in games where the people were so involved in the role playing side that they abandoned all storylines just to talk to each other in character all night. It’s like watching a murder mystery play when there’s no murder. AAAAAAAA!

You MUST continue rightly with several more parts to this show. Call this “The Superhero Role Play Edition” since you played mostly on that.
I did have Marvel and DC Heroes, and I always wanted to try Villains and Vigilantes but could never find a copy 🙁
My nerd cred however is that I was asked to Dungeon Master in either the first or one of the first Conventions in Wisconsin. I was like 13 though, and there’s no way my parents would let me go. My buddy and I shared Dragon Magazine as basically first subscribers. LOL
Cheers!

There are a LOT of games that didn’t come up…. many of which are important to the history of the hobby, and are just interesting one way or another. But there’s SO MUCH to get into, we wanted an over view episode first. You’ve mentioned a few here; so to address these specific ones:

-Car Wars and Battletech are wargames; although they both bridge the gap between by having extremely detailed settings. Both had RPG variants as well; “MechWarrior” for Battletech and “GURPS Autoduel” for Car Wars. Boot Hill sort of falls into this category too. It’s nominally an RPG, but the rules are so combat oriented and downright fatal that it’s closer to a wargame. (It’s also a first gen game, so the line between RPG and wargame wasn’t as wide then as it is now.)

-Toon is a comedy game, and comedy gaming is a whole other thing; mostly ‘cos it flies in the face of regular gaming. Like any good cartoon, you win by losing. Paranoia sort of fits into this idea as well. Paranoia is a special case for me ‘cos of a review I read WAY back when, which has always stuck with me. The reviewer noted that Paranoia was the only REAL role-playing game out ‘cos it was the only RPG that required the participants adopt a mindset different from their own. That’s an important idea that leads to all sorts of things.

Paranoia is also one of the games we played to death around here.

-Space 1889 is a special case as well, since I think it’s the first attempt at an “event” game anyone tried. It was released as both and RPG and a series of wargames, and there was a definite feeling they were trying to launch a whole new mass media property; but it never took off. It WAS a good game though.

>I always figured there were two kinds of gamers. Those who wanted to war game, and those who wanted to actually roleplay through stories.

Those are the broadest categories, and it’s a good point to keep in mind when discussing this sort of thing. I don’t think it’s a “yes/no” setup though; most participants have a mix of both, and many folks go through stages where the mix changes. (So…. newer gamers tend to be more wargamery ‘cos they come into the hobby as a GAME, and play accordingly.)

>I think I wouldn’t have wanted to play the weakened characters you guys like though. After all, the point of playing these fantastic games is with fantastic heroes.

It’s one of them “to taste” things. I remember when I first met Rob, and he started gaming with my group. He made a comment early on to the effect of ” most people play to see what it’s like being a superhero; you guys play to see what it’s like to be average people….” It’s also one of those things that changes over time. You may play D&D at first to stomp monsters and save kingdoms…. but at some point as you get older and more worldly in real life you might find yourself wondering how the economic system of such a world would work, or maybe you get into political thriller novels, or real world current events…. and that sort of thing starts trickling into your games. Soon you’re playing a D&D campaign where the characters are low ranking nobles engaging in politics, mobilizing their spies and scouts, going to social events where they banter with their rivals instead of just stabbing them….

Or maybe you just keep robbing the money lender. One of the things I love about RPGs is that they’re one of the few hobbies out there that CAN change and develop as the participants do.

>having someone effectively useless in fight is pretty much no fun either.

….unless your campaign has little to do with fighting.

>I’ve been in games where the people were so involved in the role playing side that they abandoned all storylines just to talk to each other in character all night. It’s like watching a murder mystery play when there’s no murder. AAAAAAAA!

Like that. Our Cyberpunk campaign was a lot like that. Everyone made characters with decent back stories, and the games were the characters pursuing their own goals. But that’s the sort of campaign that HAS to happen organically amongst the group, and requires ALL the participants be willing to play that way.

>You MUST continue rightly with several more parts to this show.

There is SO MUCH to cover we definitely will.

>I was asked to Dungeon Master in either the first or one of the first Conventions in Wisconsin. I was like 13 though, and there’s no way my parents would let me go.

That’s a bummer! What year was that? Was it the travelling or the convention itself that worried your folks?

About Us

The Department of Nerdly Affairs is a bi-weekly talk podcast dedicated to exploring different aspects of nerdly arts and culture. Together bringing over 80 years of experience to the table, the hosts, Rob and Don, try to take a seasoned, knowledgeable, and real-world approach to looking at the creation of nerd culture and the forces shaping it. The podcast covers topics ranging from from film and comics to writing and history, and pretty much everything in between. If it's a hobby shared by few or by many, you can expect to hear it talked about by the Department of Nerdly Affairs. New episodes every second Friday!

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